Communities and Justice

Service Reform and Innovation Grant Program

Objectives

Solutions to addressing homelessness depend on partnerships and innovation between services, researchers, the homelessness and housing sectors, governments and the clients themselves.

Homes NSW is regularly approached by organisations with ideas to improve the homelessness service they deliver, or the system more generally.

Until now, there hasn’t been a mechanism for these ideas to be considered in an open and transparent process. The Service Reform and Innovation Grant Program provides this mechanism.

The purpose of the Service Reform and Innovation Grant Program is to:

  • Support homelessness services to transform current accommodation and/or service responses to deliver more and/or better outcomes for clients.
  • Support homelessness services in action-research to test new service delivery approaches.
  • Increase the flexibility of assets and/or supports so they can adapt to changing need and demand for services.

This grant program is deliberately open and flexible and provides an opportunity for services to be positioned for the future.

Homelessness Innovation Fund

The Homelessness Innovation Fund (HIF) will initially target the current demand and costs of temporary accommodation, as well as provide an opportunity for providers to bring forward their ideas for service reform and innovation.

$100 million has been allocated to establish the HIF, with approximately $30 million of this amount provisionally allocated for 2024/25.

Under the HIF, organisations can apply for one-off grant funding. As the HIF funding is intended to have a wide entry gate, some proposals may be funded by the HIF, or, through any other appropriately suited path available to Homes NSW.

Homelessness Innovation Fund information recordings:

Eligibility criteria

The Service Reform and Innovation Grant Program is open to all accredited Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS) and registered Community Housing Providers (CHPs) and Aboriginal Community Housing Providers (ACHPs) both through National or Local Scheme.

Partnerships are welcome. Consideration will be given to organisations who agree to achieve SHS accreditation and housing providers who are in the process of registration.

Applications led by, or in partnership with Aboriginal providers will be highly regarded.

Funding amounts

There is no specific limit on the value of the grant providers can apply for. However, the available funding is limited and the intention is to achieve a statewide impact, rather than be absorbed through a limited number of larger grants.

Timeframes

HIF – Service Reform and Innovation Grant Program will remain open from 11 September until 30 April 2025. Organisations can submit an application at any time. Assessment process will be completed as per the following schedule:

  • Submitted applications received by 30 October 2024 will be comparatively assessed and announced in November 2024.
  • Submitted applications received by 14 February 2025 will be comparatively assessed and announced in March 2025.
  • Submitted applications received by 30 April 2025 will be comparatively assessed and announced in May 2025.

Resources

Last updated:

28 Oct 2024